Raon Digital No More?

We’ve been tracking this for months now and have heard stories from all quarters about reduced service levels, lack of stock and new offices. We’ve lost our main contact point in Raon, haven’t heard from our other contact points and finally, today, the website went offline. An email sent two days ago requesting a statement on the status of Raon Digital remains unanswered.

Raon Digital had three products in its lifetime. The Vega, the Everun and the Everun Note. All were powered by AMD processors and all were very innovative. Based on current information, we don’t expect to see any more products from Raon Digital. If we’re correct with our assumption, Raon Digital will be added to the list of dedicated ultra mobile PC companies that failed to survive. The list includes Wibrain, OQO, Flipstart and Pepperpad.

Customers with devices needing repair should contact their reseller for latest support information.

I’m sure lots of Everun folks are weeping about this. I recall Hugo Ortgea’s smile when he popped his SIM card into the Everun and got an immediate call from his wife while driving home from FedEx. That sold me! Plus Chippy’s review and the versatility of the Everun. It’s been my constant companion from day one, even to the point that I got a second one cheap on ebay just in case… Sure it’s been passed by the likes of Viliv but it meets my needs just perfectly and the battery lasts forever. Sad day, but the price was a bit steep and sometimes the most innovative companies take a hit, somebody else picks up the ball and runs with it. OQO, Raon, bye!!!

tmarks11 Reply:July 14th, 2009 at 5:40 pm

I agree. It is a shame; I was holding on to hope that Raon would introduce a third generation tablet/slate.

Hopefully Viliv will cough up an S5 with keyboard soon, as my 2+ yo Everun is getting long in the tooth; case is cracked and battery is held in with double edged tape…

I still use the original everun everyday. I love its battery life and it is great for web surfing. Too bad Raon Digital couldn’t survive. It would have been nice for a refresh of the original everun. Well that won’t be happening now. RIP Raon Digital.

I also use my original Everun every day. Great battery life, fits in my jacket pocket. I do work on it, listen to music, watch TV shows I’ve recorded, surf the web and even do some light video transcoding when I’ve got some time spare! There’s still nothing like it. If it broke, I don’t know what I’d do. Cry probably.

Gerry Reply:July 14th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

It’s one of very few UMPC’s that will fit in a shirt pocket as well. This allows me to use it as a PDA. I plan to keep using it until: A) it dies. B) Someone makes an equivalent device that weighs 200 grams, under 10 mm thick, and at $350 USD.

my broken note is still with kim at raon so i guess i can kiss that goodbye,never really liked the note as much as the original everun which i still have,bombproof build quality and easy to use,used to need bloody oven gloves if you used the note for more than an hour but then the battery would run out before that,there will be more companies go bust and i reckon its the notes considerable failings which has cost them dear in the end,sad but the reality of modern life,r.i.p. raon and oqo.still have an e2 as well so i am super screwed.

hellion151 Reply:July 15th, 2009 at 3:29 pm

i have a Wibrain B1, OQO 01+ and Everun Note! I hope, they continue working, otherwise i will be …(what’s the progression of super screwed? hyper screwed? ;) )

IMO, UMPC’s are poorly marketed poorly marketed. What if you saw an OQO, Everon, Wibrain next to a HP mini for the same price?? Wouldn’t you think millions would go for the smaller UMPC pocketable, same functionality verse the bigger HP Mini? If not just for WOW factor, for functionality and portability. Now what if you saw a OQO next to a I-phone in a store (best buy)for the same price?? I think I would for for the OQO. Now what if UMPC’s had blue tooth headsets for phone calls/Skype? I think that would a good battle between UMPC/headsets verse smart phones. See i’ve NEVER seen a UMPC displayed in a retail store? Why NOT??!?!? it’s the UMPC companies that need to step up their marketing divisions/techniques. Have we ever even discussed UMPC’s with headsets??? Yo, you don’t need to hold a brick computer to your head, if you have a headset brothers and sisters. (remember the funny video JKK holding an XP cellphone to his head and laughing??? Who forgot about the bluetooth headset? EVERYONE. Someone please stick a UMPC in a retail store ASAP. No excuses.

Two strikes in a row The everun was my second favourite UMPC even if I never owned one (fortunatelly I did buy a Oqo 02 before they vanished) Sad. I hope other UMPC companies can learn the lesson (IÂ´m not saying I know wich one it is but obviously there is one or two even if each one has a diferent one) so UMPC market donÂ´t suffer more dessertions. Especially of dedicated UMPC builders. A lot of good engeniers are in the street now. I also hope they can find jobs in other companies that can make use of their knowledge (along with OqoÂ´s ones) So long Raon and thanks for your creations

Raons idea was great, the only mini laptop without poorly performing Atoms or weak Via GPU and still pocketable due to the optical sensor instead of a touchpad. And after a powernow patch by Mark Langsdorf from the AMD research center the non standard underclocking was well supported by Linux. I hope for new AMD based minis e.g. with Tigris platform. And of course I’ll get a pandora handheld.

I must admit I’ve wanted to see my Note working flawlessly with linux. But I often write mails to show there’s demand for a Note2 with 45 nm CPU or Eye-Fi linux support.

Too bad, we are really a minority. last UMPC survey claimed the people want more Atom devices. I belong to the 5 % who don’t mind paying for a underclocked, full featured notebook processor. I wonder how much time a linux kernel build would have taken without a real dual core and out of order processing. Downloadhelper needs power for converting flv-crap to mp4 too.

After watching dozens of YouTube videos (including all of Chippy’s) about the Raon Digital Everun and the WiBrain, I decided to purchase the Everun S60 exactly one year ago (the Everun Note was announced the day I received my Everun from Dynamism here in the States IIRC).

I was finally able to put my Nokia N800 down as the Everun did almost everything I needed in a mobile computing device. I have used it all day everyday wherever I go. My favorite applications for the Everun are Maple 13 and TiEmu, but have nearly all 60 GB filled with applications, media, and eBooks.

Last month I bought a replacement stylus from Dynamism who said they would put my order for a standard battery on a wait list. While the original battery still lasts 4+ hours, I wanted to get a spare battery while they were still available. I also tried ordering a battery from Expansys, who were also out of them. Then the battery latch broke when I tried removing the battery, so I bought a nice leather case off of eBay which holds the battery in place. After reading this news about Raon Digital, I went ahead and bought a replacement battery off of eBay tonight.

I just received an email from a very reliable source inside Korea pertaining to Raon. They indeed filed for bankruptcy. That’s the bad news. The good news is that another company is attempting to purchase Raon and their warranty service. So it may be possible that anyone who sent their device in for service could see it in the future. Of course nothing is guaranteed and this is second hand info but at least it is a ray of hope. And anyone looking for a battery, just check ebay. A reseller, KORIS, is very reliable. I have purchased several Raon items from him and not only is everything 100%, but I have actually received the items within two or three days all the way from Korea. Top notch service.

Anpu Reply:July 30th, 2009 at 3:55 am

>The good news is that another company is attempting to purchase Raon and their warranty service. That would be nice. Raon Everun Note gave me few scary minutes today when it refused to boot. 8| Turns out that SD card was left in the slot… It’s a shame this company went belly up – comparing with OQO their products were way more affordable. :) >And anyone looking for a battery Thanks for the info.

That’s a very good news, do you have any news? becouse here the number of owner of Everun Note with screen cable defect is increasing… I’m one of this lucky onwer with cable defect from June…

We need to have the new screen cable for not see our LCD flickering with wrong colors… We are thing to buy a lot of cable from the real produced of the cable, if Raon will not be acquired… I Raon will be acquired we will buy from Raon…

That’s a very good news, do you have any news? becouse here the number of owner of Everun Note with screen cable defect is increasing… I’m one of this lucky onwer with cable defect from June…

We need to have the new screen cable for not see our LCD flickering with wrong colors… We are thinking to buy a lot of cables from the real produced of the cable, if Raon will not be acquired… I Raon will be acquired we will buy from Raon…